Another Year Older
by PIIR-Pierrot
Summary: ‘Another year older, another year of missed chances and broken dreams.’  Naruto’s thoughts were interrupted by a savage kick to his ribs.  Time moves on and on, and Naruto wishes the milestones weren’t quite so bitter.


_**Another Year Older…**_

Summary: '_Another year older, another year of missed chances and broken dreams_.' Naruto's thoughts were interrupted by a savage kick to his ribs. Time moves on and on, and Naruto wishes the milestones weren't quite so bitter.

Today was a day of celebration. Thirteen years ago to the day, the Kyuubi no Kitsune had been defeated by none other than Konoha's very own Yondaime Hokage. The battle had been fierce, lasting over an hour. That may not seem like much time to most people, but for a ninja, an hour is just as long as an eternity.

To have enough stamina to fight for an hour is almost unthinkable. The Yondaime was a truly exceptional shinobi. But even he could not defeat the demon fox without help from the God of Death. Never before had the people of Konoha known such fear as they did on that wretched day. Citizens and ninja alike could only look on in terror as the Kyuubi _fought_ the God of Death.

Such an event was unprecedented. The God of Death works with entirely different powers than those of the mortal world. He uses spiritual energy to remove the souls of his victims.

Spiritual energy is rare, and must be used accordingly. To put it metaphorically, if a person's chakra was all the sand on a beach, one grain of it would be spiritual energy. The God of Death has astronomical amounts of spiritual energy, enough to replace the chakra in a baby's pinky finger.

The Kyuubi, demi-god of chakra, was converting his chakra into spiritual energy! The power necessary for this alone radiated off the demon, knocking lesser ninja unconscious. The stronger, more experienced ninja, those who had seen the horrors of the world and lived through the nightmares, were frozen in placed, rooted to the ground in awe and fear.

As the Yondaime collapsed, too exhausted even to stand up, let alone continue his fight, the God of Death sealed the Kyuubi in a newborn child. It was a desperate act, made to end the battle before the Kyuubi could escape.

As the last visage of the God of the Dead disappeared, a ragged cheer was heard. The battle was over. Konoha still stood. Bodies littered the ground, and the stench of burning flesh hung in the air.

In the silence that followed, a child's cry rose from the battlefield. A small, tenuous sound that broke the hearts of all who heard it. It was the first, and last, time that anyone would cry for Naruto for a long, long time.

A flash of light refracted in Naruto's window, flashing across the boy's eyes. He glanced up from his kitchen table with a sigh. '_It's that time of year again,_' he thought. At just thirteen years old, Naruto was already wizened, bitter, and old.

Every year the city of Konoha started the celebrations by burning a life-size effigy of the Kyuubi. In the first few years of the celebration the head of the Uchiha clan had the honor of beginning the festival. The Uchiha clan had suffered the most severe losses during the attack, and it was only fitting that those who had suffered the most be the ones to burn the statue.

Naruto gave another sigh, almost inaudible over the crackle of flames. Even though the ceremony took place on the other side of the city, on top of the Hokage monument, the statue was life-size.

The flames reminded him of his first birthday. Naruto's eyes glazed over as he remembered his infancy.

Innocent. He had been so innocent. The stares, the glares… he had been oblivious to it all. And on the first anniversary of his birth, he had paid for it. How appropriate that Naruto's first assailant had been an Uchiha. The man paused just long enough to gag him.

As the fire engulfed Naruto's body all he could do was watch in uncomprehending agony as his skin shriveled and died. As he blackened and burned and tried to scream from the unimaginable pain. As his silent tears disappeared in the heat before they ever had a chance to fall.

The world imploded upon itself, and all Naruto could see was darkness. Naruto fell into the welcome nothingness.

Naruto turned away from the window, a twisted smile adorning his face, full of pain and sorrow. That was his first memory, and the first milestone of his wretched life.

The chair screeched as he pushed himself away from the table and slowly stood up. With slow, deliberate steps he worked his way over to a small cabinet. Naruto reached in, hands searching for something way in the back.

It wasn't there. He started his search over, this time making sure to check every corner and every hiding place. Naruto's movements became more and more frantic when he realized that it wasn't there.

He started breathing in heavy, short gasps. With a frantic cry Naruto tore open a random drawer. '_Not here.'_ Another drawer. _'Not here.'_ Another drawer. _'Where is it?!'_

Naruto was hyperventilating by now, and his hands were shaking. He opened one last drawer and visibly sagged with relief. His legs buckled, dropping him on the floor, no longer able to support him.

With frenzied, almost hysterical, movements Naruto unscrewed the bottle cap. Carefully he poured three pills into his hand and swallowed them. Soon he stopped shaking. A few more minutes and he was able to stand up again. Naruto screwed the cap on and put the bottle in its proper place in the cabinet.

He has been addicted to ecstasy since he was five.

Naruto had turned five just last week. He had been beaten so badly that the last of the scars were still healing. That wasn't what was really hurting him, though. He hadn't had anything to eat in two weeks. He was only alive because of the Kyuubi.

Naruto staggered into an alleyway, completely focused on getting to the dumpster before he collapsed. He didn't make it. He lay there, panting, hoping that somehow he would find the strength to get up and try again.

He stopped breathing when he noticed a figure put from the shadows. The man was young, almost a teenager. Naruto cringed, expecting a blow that never came.

He peered up and was surprised to see the man smiling down at him. It was not a kind smile, but it was a smile no the less. The man, who Naruto later found out was named Mizuki, wanted Naruto to work for him as a delivery boy of sorts.

In return Naruto would get to sleep in the miserable excuse for a shack that Mizuki owned. Naruto was hesitant. After all, such an amazing offer had to have catches, right? Sensing the boy's reluctance, Mizuki said he'd also let Naruto eat whatever he could find in his dumpster.

That settled it. The chance to have a place to live _and_ food was worth any risk. He moved in that day, and started work the next.

That was milestone number two.

It was easy work. Most people ignored him. A few went out of their way to kick him in the ribs, but that was it. The people who really wanted to hurt him wouldn't do anything in public.

Naruto would take the bag Mizuki gave him to another person, who would in turn give Naruto money to give to Mizuki. It didn't take Naruto long to become curious, though, and just three month later he had sampled one of the pills in the bag. That was milestone number three.

Mizuki had been furious, but Naruto didn't care. For a few short hours he had been happy. For the first time in his life he hadn't cared that people wished he was dead, that _he_ wished that he was dead.

He would do anything for those pills. Anything. But it took four years, four agonizingly slow, drug-free years before Naruto found a way to pay for the ecstasy.

An explosion knocked Naruto out of the past. His door was blown off the hinges, and only Naruto's quick reflexes prevented him from getting hit. Razor sharp shards of what used to be his door lodged themselves in Naruto's legs and stomach and arms.

It hurt, but Naruto had been though much worse in his lifetime. The physical pain was torture, yes, but it was the emotional and mental pain that was truly unbearable. The guilt, the shame… he was truly a disgusting creature.

When Naruto was nine, he finally found a way to pay for drugs. With one simple hand-seal Naruto could become whomever he wanted. Henge. His most popular persona was five feet and two inches tall, with brown hair and full, red lips. She had exotic, green eyes and generous hips. She was coquettish but shy, and she often glanced up bashfully from beneath her long eyelashes.

Naruto stopped throwing up after the fifth time. He stopped crying after the twentieth. But he never stopped hating every minute of it. He needed to do it, though. Without those few precious moments of carefree happiness, he would surely have killed himself.

There were four men standing in the doorway. Naruto looked right through them, still lost in milestone number four. He was brought back to earth by a vicious punch to his stomach.

Gasping for breath, Naruto struggled not to laugh. '_How inappropriate,_' he mused. '_I wonder if they know what love is._'

When Naruto was eleven he met the love of his life: Sakura Haruno. It took him six months, six whole months, to muster the courage to ask her out. Naruto was eleven and a half when his heart broke for the first time.

His heart existed only as a tattered remnant, threadbare and stained with grief. And though he died a little more every time, he never stopped asking, never stopped hoping.

'_Another year older, another year of missed chances and broken dreams_.' Naruto's thoughts were interrupted by a savage kick to his ribs. He fell to his knees, gasping for air.

'_I wish…I just wish that… one day, people will be as human as they pretend to be._' And a thought, so dark and terrible that Naruto almost suffocated beneath its weight, appeared in his head.

'_All of them. They _are_ all human…so very human. As human as they don't have to pretend to be, because being normal isn't about being perfect, it's about being able to hate, and being able to love, and about being able to feel all the other things that just don't make sense._'

Naruto couldn't stop it this time. A chuckle escaped from his between lips. It grew and grew, until he was rolling on the floor laughing.

His skin was blotched with bruises. Rivulets of red ran down his face, and he didn't care. His ribs were puncturing his lungs. His bones were sticking out through his skin, and he didn't feel it anymore.

Another mile traveled, another truth learned. Naruto laughed and laughed and cried, and wished the milestones of life weren't so bitter.

_Disclaimer:_ I do not own Naruto.

_Word Count:_ 1,815

_A/N:_ I really am working on Childhood. I've rewritten parts of the chapter more times than I can remember, but it just doesn't sound right. School has been particularly time consuming, as well. (That's what I get for taking all honors and AP courses.) I really wanted to get this story done in time for Naruto's birthday. Alas, it was not meant to be. Still, I'm happy with its length. It's almost two thousand words! (A personal record) As always, reviews are really appreciated. I'll try and get some more stories completed over my fall break, which is just over a month away. Thank you for reading Another Year Older!

PIIR-Pierrot


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